Review: Van Gogh HD

Vincent Van Gogh may have had an unhappy life, but he did leave us with some timeless art pieces. The "Van Gogh HD" app is an excellent way to learn about and experience them.

The Van Gogh HD app is considered a universal app so a purchase on the iPad means you can also download it for free on the iPhone. Unlike most apps that work on both platforms, "Van Gogh HD" feels at home on the iPad but is also properly reformatted for the iPhone. This is refreshing given that many iPad apps feel simply like blown-up iPhone apps.

Here Van Gogh’s paintings really make use of the extra screen real estate. "Van Gogh HD" is as educational as it is visually enjoyable . The app presents Van Gogh’s paintings in order of the major events in his life. Tapping one of these time periods bring up the paintings he created. The painting’s name, location, and date (sometimes approximate) accompany each painting. They can be scrolled through one at a time or chosen individually from a layout.

While in art-viewing mode, users have the option to save it to either the photo gallery or a bookmarks section within the app. A painting can also be sent via email. Tapping this options brings up the email app with that particular painting attached. Another feature is the ability to save a painting to the photo gallery. Doing this creates an excellent way to use any painting of choice as the iPad’s wallpaper.

If you're showing off "Van Gogh HD" for friends or students, you can hit the play and music buttons for a hands-free slide show complete with classical music. The music is a bit of an odd feature, but the slide show could come in handy for allowing a group of individuals to enjoy the artwork .

"Van Gogh HD" puts the entire Dutch painter’s works in one place, which makes it well worth the download.

Price: $0.99

File Size: 119 MB

Developer: Boram Kim

Platform: iPad and iPhone

iPadNewsDaily Rating (out of 4): ★★★★

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